Maternity leave: the challenge of returning to work

After 16+ weeks devoted to welcoming the new family member, returning to work requires a certain amount of readjustment: getting back into the swing of things is never easy, and can be a major source of stress. Whether teleworking or working on site, the manager needs to anticipate and prepare for this reintegration as well as possible.

Pre-leave offboarding: a good start for a better return

When one of your employees announces the big news, it's important to be pragmatic in preparing for her departure on leave. As we all know, the time it takes for new employees to get up to speed is all the more critical when it comes to short periods of work, particularly when replacing someone on parental leave. As a reminder, maternity leave in France lasts a minimum of 16 weeks, so the person who temporarily replaces your employee needs to be up and running as quickly as possible, so that the position doesn't lose productivity. However, it's not easy for an employee to get up to speed in just a few weeks, as they first need to familiarize themselves with their new team and working environment, in order to best assimilate the missions and tasks of their new position. It therefore seems essential to put in place solutions to integrate and train the replacement in the best possible way, so as to maintain a real dynamic in the position in question.

Preparing for your employee's departure on maternity leave, by off-boarding her beforehand, will help you to integrate her replacement more effectively. In concrete terms, a few weeks before the employee goes on maternity leave, the manager can suggest that the employee organize a handover at her post: what are the missions and tasks? What critical subjects need to be mastered? Are there any particular best practices or tools to master? By formalizing the knowledge and experience acquired by the employee, the manager can then pass on this valuable content to the replacement, so that he or she can optimize the transition to the new position. By benefiting from this transfer of knowledge, the new employee doesn't have to"reinvent the wheel", and instead has a good overview of the reality of the job, to capitalize on the operational reflexes in place before his/her arrival. By preparing for departures on maternity leave, the company can smooth transitions and gain in efficiency when it comes to onboarding the replacement.

But pre-leave offboarding doesn't stop there. A few weeks before the employee returns to her job, the replacement can also formalize and pass on his knowledge of the position and the company's activities. As the replacement employee has benefited from the transfer of knowledge, he or she will be able to prepare for his or her departure by describing the current situation of the position, new customers, new challenges, etc. This genuine handover facilitates the employee's reintegration; her return will then be gradual, so that she can pick up the pace while minimizing her apprehension about what will have happened during her absence. Organizing off-boarding as part of a maternity leave replacement means choosing to minimize the friction that can arise during these transitions. The company gains in productivity, and employees can return to their posts with peace of mind and a truly remarkable experience.

Telework reintegration: using the right tools

In 2O21, telecommuting became widespread in companies, and managers and Human Resources Departments had to adapt their methods and tools to the new challenges posed by this new way of working. The management of parental leave, and in particular the reintegration of employees in a telecommuting context , has nevertheless led to the advent of new forms of communication and information transmission. Whileremote working has often been perceived as a source of problems for companies and their employees, it turns out that it has also contributed to the revival of corporate communication. Indeed, new solutions for capitalizing on, formalizing and communicating key corporate issues have emerged. The integration or reintegration of employees through the transmission of numerous paper documents is not compatible with telecommuting, so companies must turn to new tools, solutions that ensure the circulation of information via a digital format. Maternity leave management also needs to adapt to these changes, with the transfer of knowledge in digital form enabling an optimal return to the job, even in a teleworking situation.

As teleworking has greatly accelerated the process of digitizing documents, it no longer makes sense to transmit knowledge and skills exclusively via paper documents. The trend has therefore shifted towards the use of so-called "hot" content, i.e. video, podcasts or d. What's more, imparting knowledge via hot content is far more effective than via written documents. These are formats that engage the viewer more, making it easier for them to assimilate the content. At Komin, we've defined the "1-3-5" rule: 1 piece of hot content, lasting less than 3 minutes, is 5 times more effective than a multi-page written document. The use of hot content in maternity leave management ensures and even optimizes the handover between the employee and her replacement. Telecommuting has certainly imposed the use of new tools, but it has also enabled us to reinvent offboarding and onboarding, in the case of maternity leave as in all other employee transitions.

Smooth career transitions for a remarkable employee experience

Managing professional transitions is a key factor in ensuring a good employee experience, especially during periods of telecommuting. Managing parental leave means dealing with at least 2 transitions. Not only do you have to deal with the departure and return of the (new) parent, but if the employee is temporarily replaced, you have to be able to cover the onboarding and offboarding of the replacement.

These multiple transitions are both a risk and an opportunity:

A risk, because a lot of knowledge and skills (of the young parent and/or his or her replacement) can be lost, which is detrimental to the productivity of the position and the team.
It's an opportunity to revitalize and freshen up the job, thanks to the distance taken by the employee going on leave and the fresh perspective brought in by his or her replacement.

Ensuring knowledge transfer during these transitions minimizes risks and optimizes opportunities to boost job productivity, while ensuring an outstanding employee experience.

Among the many professional transitions a company can undergo over the course of a year, parental leave is not one of the easiest to manage. What's more, parental leave has a decisive impact on a company's employer brand. Indeed, it's a rather delicate period, when stress can easily emerge and leave its mark, so it's essential not to neglect it. If a lot of resources are allocated to the employee experience, but this transition is poorly managed, the employer's efforts will be severely marred, if not wasted. Conversely, an employer who offers its employees tailor-made, optimal maternity leave management guarantees an outstanding employee experience. The (new) parent can approach this phase more serenely, even when telecommuting, knowing that his or her replacement has everything he or she needs to develop within the company, and that the latter will give him or her an "exit report" on what happened and what he or she was able to learn during these 16+ weeks.

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